Op Ed from page 24
Coordination between Libraries is Lacking The International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC) was formed in 2003 and now has member institutions representing over 45 countries. The IIPC focuses on supporting the acquisition, preservation and long-term accessibility of global web content. Through its working groups and conferences, it offers web archiving practitioners the opportunity to collaborate and share information. It has sponsored the creation of a limited number of web archive collections on Archive-It. A similar consortium of key web archiving libraries has not grown on a national level in the United States, although there have been effective collaborations such as the End of Term Web Archive. Not surprisingly, the web content that has been archived to date by various institutions is not easily located by researchers, despite efforts such as the Memento Project. There is no one source through which it can be determined whether a site is being archived, and, if so, by whom. So, discovery at the site level is problematic. Discoverability of specific content within web archives can be just as vexing.
Achieving the Dream It is our responsibility to ensure that researchers in future generations have access to a wide range of archived web content from our generation and from the web going forward. The content should be easily discoverable. It should include materials that
exist behind paywalls and sign-ins. The functionality of sites that are based on search queries of an underlying database should be preserved. To make this happen will require the collaborative action of major collecting institutions, both within the United States and beyond. A first step on the national level would be the establishment of a consortium of libraries in the United States to: • Support advances in crawler technology. • Expand collecting while strengthening related coordination and communication. • Develop standards for reporting holdings. • Improve searching capabilities across and within web archives. This consortium could also coordinate with website owners to have them employ best practices to enable archiving and to allow for harvesting behind paywalls and sign-ins. As the numbers show, most of the websites that have been created over the past quarter century are now inactive. What significant content has disappeared without being archived? The staggeringly robust counter-flows of new sites being created and existing sites going dead creates a monumental challenge for libraries. No single institution can successfully meet this need. However, an energized consortium of libraries that collect for the long-term can come together and get it done. Now is the time for collaborative action so that libraries can provide a full historical record for future generations.
ATG Interviews Jack Farrell Managing Director, Jack Farrell & Associates by Tom Gilson (Associate Editor, Against the Grain) <gilsont@cofc.edu> and Katina Strauch (Editor, Against the Grain) <kstrauch@comcast.net> ATG: Tell us about Jack Farrell & Associates. You started the firm more than 14 years ago. What was it that drew you to executive recruiting as a career and what factors compelled you to start your own company? JF: I was a publishing lifer who spent most of my career creating products for academic libraries and their patrons. After September 11, I started to reassess how I was spending my time and wondered if there was a way to achieve a higher quality of life for our family. I was with McGraw-Hill in New York City at the time. I loved my job but was working long hours with lots of business travel. We had five young children at the time, and my wife was working pretty hard. Against the Grain / December 2020 - January 2021
Riding the train home one night I had an epiphany that recruiting was something I could do without a lot of investment or lead time. After twenty-two years as an educational and STM publisher, I always prided myself on my ability to make good hires and enjoyed “schmoozing” and networking with industry colleagues. So, from the train I called my wife and said, “I think I got it…recruiting!” She said, “ok…let’s give it a go.” I left McGraw-Hill in May 2006 and Jack Farrell & Associates (JFA) was born. We are a recruiting firm that brings the best talent to publishers and academic libraries in North America, UK, Europe and Asia. In November, we completed our 592nd continued on page 26
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